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Nine Inch Nails – With Teeth (2005)

Nine Inch Nails – With Teeth
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Nine Inch Nails have always been a polarizing band, whether it be their music videos, lyrical content or even the quality of their Black Mirror affiliation, but Trent Reznor and company have had a pretty tumultuous relationship with their fan base as well. When NIN first emerged in 1989 with their debut, the excellent Pretty Hate Machine, they were lauded as one of the more consistent industrial groups out there. It was in 1994 however, when the band released The Downward Spiral and took industrial into the mainstream, that they were treated as traitors by those very same fans. The band had leaned into their success and used it to bring emotions and music to Middle-America that had never been heard before, becoming one of the most popular bands in the U.S. and alienating much of their underground support in the process. NIN managed to keep their hand in the game with 1999’s The Fragile, even when it failed to live up the expectations of Spiral, but when Reznor released With Teeth in 2005, almost ten years after their breakthrough, the musical public was very different from what they were in the 1990s. Those who were accustomed to the NIN who were constantly pushing the envelope and experimenting with their transgressions were likely disappointed, but those who had found them at their best when they were creeping up the charts were not let down.
With Teeth sounds great, meticulously crafted by a production auteur at a time when sound design was making leaps forward in technology. It is also a product of someone who could not only find the right blend of pop music to fit into the industrial genre, but the right kind of pop sensibilities to fit into rock music. With Teeth is catchy as well - a lot of the songs you could hear on the radio or even play around your parents, something that certainly could not be said about their earlier releases. That most likely is due to this album's song-centric format, eschewing an overarching theme in favor of the strength of individual tracks. The best of those tracks might be the ones that push the hardest away from Reznor's industrial roots. “The Hand the Feeds” and “Only” have so much going for them melodically it only helps that they are as lush as any other NIN song. “All The Love in the World” has a characteristically pulsey mechanical feel to it but doesn’t pick up much steam until the coda where it becomes a blast. The best cut here, “Right Where It Belongs” is honestly one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard.
While NIN didn’t break any boundaries on this album, they did make a case for their prominence. After the huge success of Spiral, With Teeth managed to bring NIN back into the public eye and also made a case for Reznor’s sobriety, being his first release after kicking his substance abuse and alcoholism. The band had a reputation for being confessional in their lyrics since their inception, but on With Teeth, the sound of the album changed as well, representing the clarity and upbeat nature of Reznor’s new outlook. That is also one of the problems with this album. With Teeth is caught in the middle, trying to bridge the more pop and rock oriented inclinations with the work that made Reznor famous. NIN would never return to the recipes they used on Pretty Hate Machine, Broken or Spiral but they have managed to make consistently strong albums ever since and With Teeth just happens to be a stepping stone to the band’s next change in direction.
~7.5
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